Woman power in the movies

Girls, guys and gays sigh over romantic fairy tale movies where the prince saves the damsel in distress and carries her off to his faraway castle where they live happily ever after. Cinderella had the prince slip on a glass slipper on her foot; Sleeping Beauty was kissed and awakened from deep slumber by her prince; and Snow White was saved from death by a kiss from a handsome prince. People grew up with these wholesome bedtime stories which made for a good recipe for romanticized movie versions.

However, some films of such genre were modified to adapt the eternal fairy tale themes to modern romantic stories we never get tired of watching until today. We bid farewell to fragile and innocent heroines who transform themselves into self-assured and empowered ladies. Despite the obvious fairy tale plot, message of women empowerment where the heroine doesn’t only wait and hope all her life for her prince to come has been incorporated into these movies. Here are some of these movies:

The Prince & Me is about the rebellious Prince of Denmark (Luke Mably) who travels to America looking for a little freedom and some Midwestern college girls. To keep his royal identity a secret, the playboy Danish prince is simply called Eddie. He met Paige (Julia Stiles), a dedicated, hard-working college student and fell in love with her. He bonds with his girlfriend’s commoner family, works in their farm and respects her wish to attend medical school. In the movie, Paige meets her prince but it doesn’t stop her from pursuing a medical degree.

Ella Enchanted is a postmodern Cinderella tale based on a popular children’s book by Gail Carson Levine. A young woman named Ella (Anne Hathaway) has been cursed by her demented fairy godmother Lucinda with a "gift" of obedience. Anything anyone tells her to do, she must obey. When her mother dies, Ella was left with her thoughtless and greedy father who remarries a loathsome woman with two treacherous daughters. Ella must depend on herself and her intelligence to get through the troubles and find Lucinda in order to break the "curse." In the end, she saves herself and by doing so saves the kingdom. During her quest, Ella falls in love with Prince Charmont (Hugh Dancy).

The Princess Diaries is a comedy-drama about Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway), a teenager who discovers that she is heir to the throne of the fictional Genovia which is ruled by her paternal grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews). Since her father died, Mia is the only successor to the throne. Her mother (Caroline Goodall) and grandmother convince her to attend "princess lessons" in preparation for her ascendancy to the throne. Mia announces at the Genovian Independence Day Ball her acceptance to become a princess.

In the sequel, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, Mia Thermopolis travels to Genovia for a vacation after graduating from college and before taking up her job as princess. She continues her royalty lessons and prepares to succeed as queen of Genovia. However, the Viscount Mabrey (John Rhys-Davies) wants his nephew Lord Nicholas Devereaux (Chris Pine) to rule as king so he brings up a rarely imposed law that a princess must marry before taking the throne. Mia discovers that the only way to prevent Genovia from falling into the hands of the Viscount’s nephew is an arranged marriage so she chooses another man to marry. Lord Nicholas and Mia fall in love but she chooses the other guy out of her duty to her country. However, Mia changes her mind at the last minute so Queen Clarisse ends up marrying Mia’s bodyguard. On Mia’s coronation day, she and Nicholas reveal their feelings for each other. In both Princess Diaries movies, Mia prepares to take over the reins of power as queen in the absence of a king.

In The Princess Bride, the beautiful Buttercup (Robin Wright) falls in love with a handsome, sweet stable boy Westley (Cary Elwes). She treats him cruelly but no matter what she does or says, he always responds "as you wish." Westley leaves to make a fortune so they can marry but he was said to have been killed by pirates. Buttercup is forced to marry Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) but she is kidnapped by a strange threesome. Luckily, she is rescued by a mysterious man in black. Buttercup realizes that it is Westley who saves her after all. Together with Westley, Buttercup braves all kinds of obstacles like fighting strange beasts until the end.

The story of Ever After follows the lowly cinder girl Danielle (Drew Barrymore) who lives with her scheming stepmother Rodmilla (Anjelica Huston) after her father died. She has two stepsisters Marguerite (Megan Dodds) and Jacqueline (Melanie Lynskey). However, Danielle is intelligent, independent, strong, opinionated and fiercely proud. She stands up for a family of servant, risking the wrath of her family and the chance at being discovered masquerading as an affluent woman. Her longing for love, loyalty to her father’s memory and the family’s farm, require her to disobey and deceive. Danielle wins over the love of Prince Henry (Dougray Scott) through her intelligence and charm.

A Cinderella Story tells the story of Sam Montgomery (Hilary Duff) who lives with her stepmother Fiona (Jennifer Coolidge) and stepsisters Brianna (Madeline Zima) and Gabriella (Andrea Avery). Sam is a straight-A student and works at the diner of Fiona. Her e-mail buddy, Austin Ames (Chad Michael Murray), is the school’s famous quarterback. However, Austin hasn’t met Sam yet. Instead of the traditional glass slipper, a lost cell phone is used to track down the real identity of Sam when it was left at the Halloween homecoming dance. In the end, Sam has enough of her stepfamily and quits working at the diner. She also discovers her father’s hidden will which leaves everything to her. Sam and Austin are accepted to Princeton University.